Beauty Store Business

AUG 2016

Beauty Store Business provides solutions for better retailing! New products, industry news, savvy business moves and important trends affecting both brick-and-mortar and online retailers are included in each issue.

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86 August 2016 | beautystorebusiness.com Images courtesy of Blackpants Workwear BACK TO BASICS Blackpants Workwear's creator Leonie McDermott shares her story and insider secrets for achieving success in the beauty industry. by Karen Wilhelmsen FOR DESIGNERS ASPIRING TO BREAK INTO THE BEAUTY OR FASHION industries, it's no secret that they are extremely competitive markets. But for Leonie McDermott, the founder behind the Australia-based workwear-company Blackpants Workwear, that didn't deter her from following her dreams to pursue her passion for fashion. McDermott's success was, in part, due to the fact that she was able to corner an untapped segment of the beauty and fashion industries by catering to the needs of salon professionals; and do so in a way that wasn't being done at the time. Today, the business is far from what it was during its humble beginnings, when it was founded in 2001. "The growth of Blackpants has been very organic," McDermott says. "Initially, it started as a full range of leisurewear—lots of linens and white—to be sold through spas and resorts. Then, spa owners began purchasing them as uniforms, [because] the designs were so unique. [They were] like nothing on the market. So the uniform concept was born from that. When we developed the bleach-resistant textile and moved into hair, that was the real beginning of Blackpants." The Melbourne native continues to live on the Gold Coast with her husband and three poodles, and has even made Blackpants Workwear a family affair, bringing her two adult daughters into the business.

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